Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) on Saturday called upon protesting leftist students of the premier institute to reconsider their decision to boycott classes and semester exams in the wake of the March 1 incident when one of their peers was seriously injured allegedly after the car of West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu grazed past him during a protest on the campus.
JUTA, however, emphasised it was not asking the students to call off the stir till their demands are met but ensure academic activities are not disrupted in the stir, which had been continuing for a week.
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Affirming their support to the demands of leftist student unions for immediate withdrawal of ‘false, fabricated cases’ filed by police against some of the student protesters in connection with the March 1 incident, JUTA said in a statement, “There should be mutual respect and cordial relations between student-teachers, keeping in mind the long-standing traditions of the higher educational institution.
The students – belonging to CPI(M)’s wing Students Federation of India (SFI), SUCI (Communist)’s All India Democratic Students’ Association (AIDSO), Naxalite Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF), and Naxalite All India Students’ Association (AISA) – had on Friday threatened a complete shutdown of the institute’s administrative work from 2 pm on March 10 if the management failed to immediately engage in discussions with them to resolve the impasse following the incident.
Two students were injured after the car of Basu and another accompanying vehicle grazed past them during a left protest on the campus. The left students are on an indefinite sit-in in front of the institute’s administrative building to press for their demands. JUTA, the major representative body of JU professors, said,
A large section of JU students have been boycotting classes and exams since the incident when one of our students was seriously injured after being knocked down by the minister’s car and is still undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The vice chancellor is also ill. In this situation, we immediately call upon other senior university officials to sit for dialogue with them at the earliest,” the statement said, condemning the “inactive role of the university on this issue.” JUTA called upon the agitating students “to reconsider their decision of class and exam boycott, stressing the role of every stakeholder to sustain the democratic framework.
The association also urged the university authorities to initiate a fair, comprehensive probe by a competent authority immediately into the incident, which was triggered by the AGM of West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA) on the campus.
The protesting students demanded an audience with Minister Basu, who went to the campus as president of the TMC-leaning professors’ body. The students demanded the minister give confirmation about early holding of student union polls pending in JU since 2020 and other higher educational institutions since 2018.
“We have not been able to establish any communication with the university authorities since the incident. If the officiating VC is unwell, we want other institutional heads to immediately sit for talks with us. All the student fronts – except TMC’s student wing TMCP and RSS’s ABVP – remain united. We will shut down the administrative building, Aurobindo Bhavan, if the authorities do not sit with us for talks,” SFI leader Russel Pervez said.
